Circuit breakers having self-cleaning and self-adjusting contacts which are very easily replaceable



y 3, 1966 R FELSQN 3,249,730

CIRCUIT BREAKERS HAVING SELF-CLEANING AND SELF-ADJUSTING CONTACTS WHICHARE VERY EASILY REPLACEABLE Filed June 7, 1965 INVENTOR, Ronald Felson,

ATTORNEY.

3 249,730 CIRCUIT BREAKERS HAVING SELF-CLEANING AND SELF-ADJUSTIN GCONTACTS WHICH ARE VERY EASILY REPLACEABLE Ronald Felson, 228-40 MentoneAve., Laurelton, N.Y. Filed June 7, 1965, Ser. No. 461,977 20 Claims.(Cl. 200-166) This is a continuation-in-part of application Serial No.349,100, filed March 3, 1964, which application is now discontinued.

The present invention relates to circuit breakers for offand-onelectrical circuits generally and in particular to the type which isadaptable to be operated by a rotating cam for use in ignition systemsof internal combustion engines.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a novel andimproved circuit breaker affording a constant maximum gap betweencontact elements, constant ignition time, a constant change of points ofcontact on the contact elements, automatic cleaning and burnishing ofthe contact elements and a minimization of the effects of pitting of thecontact elements.

Another object of this invention is to provide a novel and improvedcircuit breaker of the character described, in which the contactelements are very easily replaceable, the construction of which deviceis simple, reasonable in cost to manufacture and which is efficient andlong-lasting in carrying out the purposes for which it is designed.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent as this disclosureproceeds. I

For one practice of this invention, the contact elements are preferablydiscs or spherical balls, each rotatably held by the jaws of an easilyopenable clamp respectively. Said contact elements are seated in holesin the jaws, which holes have their edges in rubbing or scraping contactwith said contact elements; the latter being so positioned that uponeach impact thereof, each such element will turn slightly. The clampstructures as herein illustrated in a preferred embodiment, may be inthe manner of biased-to-close tweezers comprising a rigid blade memberhaving a cantilever blade spring therealong. Preferably, the rigid blademembers are intermediate the blade springs. The rigid member of one ofthe clamps is fixed and that of the other is swingably mounted andspringbiased to serve as the follower against a rotatable polygonal camwhich causes said swingable member to oscillate and hence the contactelements held by the clamps will repeatedly hit one or the other. Suchimpacts are off dead center and hence each contact element will causethe other to turn a bit. At each shift of a contact element in itsclamp, the seating edges of the holes in which the contact elements areplaced, will clean, burnish and smooth such element.

In the acompanying drawing forming part of this specification, similarcharacters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a distributor of an internalcombustionengine employing a preferred embodiment of this invention,showing the circuit breaker in open condition.

FIG. 2 is a section taken at line 22 in FIG. 1, showing the contactelements seated in holes through the clamping jaws. Here, the contactelements are discs and the holes they set in having sharp edgescontacting such discs.

FIG. 3 is a section taken as FIG. 2, but here, the contact elements arespherical.

Sates Pate ice FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing associated clamps ofa modified construction, holding their contact element which as shown,are discs.

FIG. 7 is an end view of the swingable clamp of FIG. 6. FIG. 8 is a viewlike FIG. 7, except that here, the contact element is spherical.

In the drawing, the numeral 15 designates generally a distributor of aninternal combustion engine. Its usual rotatable polygonal cam 16 isadapted to oscillate the arm 17 which is swingably mounted on the axis18 and springbiased by the blade spring 19, so the lateral lug 20 shallbear against the cams periphery to serve as a follower. Said arm 17 hasa cantilever blade spring 17' therealong which is secured thereto nearaxis region by the rivets 21. Said arm 17 and its companion blade spring17', are the jaws of a normally closed tweezer-like clamp to hold acontact element for rotation between them. There is a stationary armwhich may be the leaf 22 of a fixed angle piece. This arm 22 has acantilever blade spring 22' therealong and fixed at one end thereto bythe rivets 23. Said arm 22 and its companion blade spring 22 are thejaws of a tweezer-like clamp to hold a second contact element forrotation between them. These contact elements which may be of tungstenfor example, might be discs as 24, 25, or they may be spherical balls asshown at 26, 27. If they are discs, the jaw blades which hold them areprovided with holes 28, 28', each of which is rectangular, have sharpedges to contact the disc and of a size which is less than the diametriccross section of the disc they hold between them. When the contactelements are balls, the jaw blades which hold them are provided withround holes 30, 30 having the sharp edges 31, 31. to contact the balland of a size which is less than the diametric cross section of suchball. Contact element positions are opposite each other and so spacedthat they strike each other upon rotation of the cam 16. The axis 18 isparallel to the general planes of all said holes. The holes 28' and 30'may be sockets, but it is best to have them holes to get more scrapingaction and burnishing of the contact elements and of course the contactelements should extend through the holes 28, 30 so that associatedcontact elements can come into contact with each other. When the contactelements are discs or spheres, they are so positioned in the device sothat upon impact, their line of centers shall make an acute angle withthe plane of the hole in that clamp member which is farthest fromoscillated clamp. Such hole inFIG. 5 would be 30. This avoids a deadcenter impact and thus when the contact elements hit each other, eachwill cause the other to turn a bit thereby assuring constantly changingcontact points, scraping of the contact elements by the sharp edges ofthe holes and the burnishing of said elements. When the contact elementsare spherical, such angular relation may be in two planes, once as inFIG. 1 and again as in FIG. 3. This causes the spherical contactelements to have a random movement and hence all ing in' their beingcleaned and burnished, keeps them contact elements, rubbing action issufiicient, as would be afforded by having the holes countersunk or thehole edges even blunt or rounded. Scraping action as afforded by thesharp edges 31, 31, is not mandatory for operation of this apparatus.Scraping includes rubbing.

In the modified embodiment shown in FIGS. 6-8, the contact elementswhether discs or spheres may merely be in rubbing contact with thespringy jaws 17" and 22" and with springy fingers 35 or 35 which areillustrative examples; such fingers being opposite each other and bentfrom the blade spring from which they extend as integral parts thereof,to pinch or hug the contact element around axis region; the distal endsof such fingers being spaced from the jaw which is'a companion for theblade spring they extend from. Such pinching action offered by saidfingers to a disc as 24' or to 'a sphere as 26' between them, assuresthat the contact element between them is constantly maintained in goodelectrical contact with itsclamp and avoids a variance in the quality ofsuch connection.

For optimum results, the associated contact elements are chosen of thesame diameter. Though pitting will occur, the rubbing action willmaintain the circular shape and smooth and clean the surfaces of theseelements, hence the point gap will remain nearly precisely constant; theaway-from-true being so minute, as to be negligible. It may be desirablethat said elements be interchanged so one should be where the other hadbeen, in order that the one that gained metal will now give it back tothe other which lost it. Seldom if ever is there a need for new contactelements. Also for best results,

the rigid arms 17 and 22 are positioned intermediate the blade springs17 and 22.

This invention is capable of numerous forms and various applicationswithout departing from the essential features herein disclosed. It istherefore intended and desired that the embodiments shown herein shallbe deemed merely illustrative and not restrictive and that the patentshall cover all patentable novelty herein set forth, reference being hadto the following claims rather than to the specific description andshowings herein to indicate the scope of this invention.

I claim:

1. In a circuit breaker of the character described, two electricallyconductive members insulated from each other and carried on a frame forrelative movement towards and away from each other, two contactelements,

' each having a circular cross-section, means on each of said membersholding one of said contact elements for rotation about the axis of itscircular section; said elements being so positioned that upon relativemovement of said members towards each other, said contact elements willhit each other off dead center; each of said members presenting at leastone edge in at least rubbing contact with the circular periphery of thecontact element thereon whereby upon impact of said contact elements,each will rotate the other a fraction of a turn whereupon each of saidelements will be cleaned and burnished by the rubbing edge it is incontactwith.

2. A circuit breaker as defined in claim 1, including spring means oneach of said members, biasing saidcontact elements to remain against therubbing edges they are against respectively.

3.'A circuit breaker as defined in claim 1, wherein each of said contactelements is a disc.

4. A circuit breaker as defined in claim 1, wherein each of said contactelements is of spherical form.

5. A circuit breaker as defined in claim 4, wherein each of said meansincludes a hole in which the associated contact element is seated; theline of centers of said spherical contact elements being in angularrelation to the plane of the hole it is seated in, in more than twodirections, upon impact, whereby said spheres will have a randommovement when they hit each other; said angular relationships being anacute angle respectively.

6. A circuit breaker as defined in claim 1, wherein each of said membersand their related means, constitute a clamp which is biased to close;said contact elements being rotatably supported in said clampsrespectively; each of said members being one of the jaws and each ofsaid means being the other of the jaws of the respective clamps theycomprise.

7. A circuit breaker as defined in claim 6, wherein each jaw of eachclamp has a hole therethrough; each contact element being seated in bothholes of the clamp holding it and free to rotate therein; each clampbeing openable whereupon the contact element associated therewith isfreed for withdrawal therefrom.

8. A circuit breaker as defined in claim 7, wherein said holes arerectangular and the contact elements are each a disc.

9. A circuit breaker as defined in claim 7, wherein said holes arecircular and the contact elements are each of spherical form.

10. A circuit breaker as defined in claim 7, wherein the edges of saidholes constitute the rubbing edges.

11. A circuit breaker as defined in claim 1, wherein each of said meansincludes a hole in which the associated contact element is seated; theedge of such hole offering said rubbing edge.

12. A circuit breaker as defined in claim 1, wherein the contactelements are of the same diameter.

13. In a circuit breaker of the character described, a frame, aswingable arm on said frame, a second arm positioned on the frameopposite said first arm, two elongated cantilever blade springs mountedfixed on one end to said arms respectively and extending along themrespectively; each arm and its associated blade spring forming abiased-to-close clamp; in each of said clamps, the arms thereof beingone jaw and the associated blade spring being the other jaw; each ofsaid clamps holding a contact element having a circular section wherebyitis rotatable between the jaws of its associated clamp and releasabletherefrom upon separating said jaws; one jaw of each clamp beingintermediate the other jaws of said clamps; at least each of saidintermediate jaws having an opening presenting an edge which contactsthe associated contact element and is in rubbing relation therewith;each of said contact elements being seated in the opening in the clampholding it and extending therethrough so that upon movement of saidswingable arm, said contact elements will hit each other; the line ofcenters of said contact elements upon their impact, being away from deadcenter whereby on impact of said contact elements, each will rotate theother a fraction of a turn whereupon each of said elements will becleaned and burnished by the rubbing edge it is in contact with.

14. A circuit breaker as defined in claim 13, wherein each of saidcontact elements is a disc.

15. A circuit breaker as defined in claim 13, wherein each of saidcontact elements is of spherical form.

16. A circuit breaker as defined in claim 15, wherein the line ofcenters of said spherical elements upon impact, is in angular relationin two directions to the plane of the opening in the jaw having thesecond arm, whereby said spheres will have a random movement when theyrepeatedly hit each other; each of said angular relationships being anacute angle.

17. A circuit breaker as defined in claim 13, wherein the contactelements are of the same diameter.

18. A circuit breaker as defined in claim 13, wh r 20. A circuit breakeras defined in claim 19, wherein the intermediate jaws are said arms.only each of said arms has an opening.

19. A circuit breaker as defined in claim 18, wherein Y each bladespring has a pair of spaced, opposite springy No references citedfingers extending laterally therefrom and pinching the associatedcontact element between them at the axis re- KATHLEEN H CLAFFY PrimaryExaminer gion of said element; said element being in rubbing contactwith its associated blade spring. AN O. JONES, Assistant Examiner.

1. IN A CIRCUIT BREAKER OF THE CHARACTER DESCRIBED, TWO ELECTRICALLYCONDUCTIVE MEMBERS INSULATED FROM EACH OTHER AND CARRIED ON A FRAME FORRELATIVE MOVEMENT TOWARDS AND AWAY FROM EACH OTHER, TWO CONTACTELEMENTS, EACH HAVING A CIRCULAR CROSS-SECTION, MEANS ON EACH OF SAIDMEMBERS HOLDING ONE OF SAID CONTACT ELEMENTS FOR ROTATION ABOUT THE AXISOF ITS CIRCULAR SECTION; SAID ELEMENTS BEING SO POSITIONED THAT UPONRELATIVE MOVEMENT OF SAID MEMBERS TOWARDS EACH OTHER, SAID CONTACTELEMENTS WILL HIT EACH OTHER OFF DEAD CENTER; EACH OF SAID MEMBERSPRESENTING AT LEAST ONE EDGE IN AT LEAST RUBBING CONTACT WITH THECIRCULAR PERIPHERY O THE CONTACT ELEMENT THEREON WHEREBY UPON IMPACT OFSAID CONTACT ELEMENTS, EACH WILL ROTATE THE OTHER A FRACTION OF A TURNWHEREUPON EACH OF SAID ELEMENTS WILL BE CLEANED AND BURNISHED BY THERUBBING EDGE IT IS IN CONTACT WITH.